Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Part I Introduction
- Part II Foundations of disaster psychiatry
- Part III Clinical care and interventions
- 6 Early intervention for trauma-related problems following mass trauma
- 7 Acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder in the disaster environment
- 8 Assessment and management of medical-surgical disaster casualties
- 9 Interventions for acutely injured survivors of individual and mass trauma
- 10 Nongovernmental organizations and the role of the mental health professional
- Part IV Special topics
- Part V Public health and disaster psychiatry
- Index
- References
10 - Nongovernmental organizations and the role of the mental health professional
from Part III - Clinical care and interventions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Part I Introduction
- Part II Foundations of disaster psychiatry
- Part III Clinical care and interventions
- 6 Early intervention for trauma-related problems following mass trauma
- 7 Acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder in the disaster environment
- 8 Assessment and management of medical-surgical disaster casualties
- 9 Interventions for acutely injured survivors of individual and mass trauma
- 10 Nongovernmental organizations and the role of the mental health professional
- Part IV Special topics
- Part V Public health and disaster psychiatry
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
A disaster is a serious event that causes an ecological breakdown in the relationship between humans and their environment on a scale that requires extraordinary efforts to allow the community to cope, and often requires outside help or international aid (Lechat, 1990; Noji, 1997). Berren et al. (1980) mention five factors that can be used conceptually to distinguish one disaster from another: (1) type of disaster: human-made or natural; (2) duration; (3) degree of personal impact; (4) potential of recurrence; and (5) control over future impact. In natural disasters, a natural hazard affects a population or area and may result in severe damage and destruction and increased morbidity and mortality that overwhelm local coping capacity. Similarly, in human-made disasters such as complex emergencies, wars or terrorist attacks, mortality among the civilian population substantially increases above the population baseline mortality, either as a result of the direct effects of war or conflict, or indirectly through the increased prevalence of malnutrition and/or transmission of communicable diseases, especially if the latter result from deliberate political and military policies and strategies (Salama et al., 2004). In 2000, an estimated 1.6 million people worldwide died as a result of violence, and one-fifth were war related (World Health Organization, 2002b). As Chapter 2 shows, mental morbidity increases too, and varying risk groups need additional attention as well as preventative efforts to alleviate their plight.
Keywords
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- Information
- Textbook of Disaster Psychiatry , pp. 206 - 224Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007
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